The Oxford, Harvard, or serial comma

If I could, I would recruit the panda bear from the Eats, Shoots and Leaves cover to begin painting over the second comma in the headline of this blog posting – not fully removing it.

The Oxford comma bases its appearances on the writer's preference or publication's established style. To be clear, the panda on the book cover is not removing an Oxford comma. He's just a good painter.

An Oxford comma is used immediately before a coordinating conjunction.

It looks like this:
Apples, oranges, and bananas.

As opposed to without the Oxford comma:
Apples, oranges and bananas.

These are simple examples but some writers use the Oxford comma to avoid ambiguity, where one clause – in a sentence of many – has multiple elements.

My usual breakfast is coffee, bacon and eggs and toast.
Three foods are listed, but it is uncertain which are the second and third. Adding a serial comma removes this ambiguity.

With a comma after eggs, the foods are:
1.Coffee
2.Bacon and eggs
3.Toast

With a comma after bacon:
1.Coffee
2.Bacon
3.Eggs and toast

I prefer not to use it because – learning journalism through the print mindset – it saves a whole character space. Which, in some cases, can make or break your layout design. But as I've learned from writing and editing online, the number of characters/words is not as limiting.

Grammar Girl, an American grammar guru, gives her perspective on using the Oxford comma.

Although it is often a decision based on preference in style, save for avoiding ambiguity, it is imperative that you remain consistent.